On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 04:27:58 +0000, Larry wrote:

Vic Smith wrote in
:

It was always a disappointment to see a CV anchored at
a port. High prices. Too many drunks. And jarheads.


Just after Maltese independence from British rule, Uncle Sugar sent USS
Everglades (AD-24) into Valetta Harbour and encouraged us sailors to go
help support the Maltese economy, which was hurting as the Brits just
left.

I was there in '64 or '65 on John King (DDG-3). Still plenty of
uniformed Limey sailors around, and I hooked up with a couple of them
for a drinking bout. Gave them a drunken tour of my ship before I
passed out behind the 2B boiler. Hope the Limeys didn't steal any
nukes. Surprised the OOD let us aboard.
Exceptionally picturesque city. Did a grotto tour on the other end of
the island, I seem to recall.

While we were there, our Captain Tidd, subsequently made Chief of Naval
Personnel later, got a request from some nuns who ran an orphanage that
was several stories tall in the crowded city. Nuns were hauling trays of
food from one floor where the galley was to another floor where the chow
hall was, on foot, up steps, 3 times a day. The crew started pitching in
and we built them, using some "commandeered government parts", a multi-
floor lift that automated the delivery process, lots of trays at a time.
I was involved in the electronic controls engineering and installation.

There were often "orphanage aid" projects for crews to lend their
efforts to in the Med. Some sailors did those and others went
drinking and whoring. I have no experience with orphanages.

As soon as the word got out what Everglades sailors were doing for these
kids, we soon learned wearing our dress blues ashore with our ship's
patch proudly displayed meant some very nice treatment by the Maltese
people. We made the front page of the newspaper.

Very good. Some of my ship crew attained similar fame in a small
Italian port - Porto Santo Stefano.
Speaking of blues in Valetta, it was the only place I drunkenly got
navy special fuel oil on my jumper striping. It was a bitch cleaning
it off with toothbrush and toothpaste. Lucky it was the gabardines.

Malta hates Americans, now, for some reason I've never figured out. I
fell in love with the place when I was a young sailor. The last time I
landed going through their airport from the Middle East, we weren't even
allowed to get off the plane into the airport...to say nothing of going
into the country.

Hey, we tied up in Bizerte, Tunisia and I walked around in various
hovel-like neighborhoods - in uniform of course. First U.S. warship
to visit since WWII.
No alcohol, and the women were recognizable only by imputation - they
were the ones scurrying about covered head-to-toe in burlap or some
such. Never saw a pair of female eyes. The men had a neutral
countenance at best. But nobody cut my throat.
The reason for the hatred is electronics, Larry. I was personally
able to not offend any sensibilities. Electronic media portrays
Americans differently and offensively to many cultures.
Whether the portrayal is valid or not I won't argue.
Bottom line is it's probably your fault.

--Vic

Vic Smith wrote in
:

No alcohol, and the women were recognizable only by imputation - they
were the ones scurrying about covered head-to-toe in burlap or some
such. Never saw a pair of female eyes. The men had a neutral
countenance at best. But nobody cut my throat.


When I lived in Iran (late 77 to 79) the women were quite "Westernized"
until towards the end when it became apparent the mullahs were going to
take over and a purge of whoring females might become reality. After
that, it looked like Jeddah, all of them in burkas.

While in both Iran and later in Bahrain, my Iranian and Arab friends
would invite me to their homes and, at first, I was quite astonished at
what their women were wearing UNDER those "burlap" burkas! Spike heel
shoes, French cut clothes any Paris prostitute would have been very proud
to own! That's why they had 'em covered up....to hid them from the REST
of us!...(c;

In Tehran, once in a while I'd get a raised eyebrow in the company of my
New Zealand girlfriend, Ann, whos departure from my life was the absolute
worst stupid thing I ever did....not following her home in '79 from
Tehran. If anything New Zealand comes on the screen, I fell awful for
hours over "what could have been". We lived together, but kept it
discreet in Tehran under the Shahanshah. We would have been stoned to
death (I have many recent stoning videos from Iran) now. They beat a
twenty-something couple to death with big stones after burying both of
them up to their chests and packing the dirt in so they could not escape.

I don't want "Freedom of Religion". I want "Freedom FROM Religion"....

Larry
--
http://www.spp.gov/
The end of the USA and its Constitution....RIP

On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 21:58:49 +0000, Larry wrote:


In Tehran, once in a while I'd get a raised eyebrow in the company of my
New Zealand girlfriend, Ann, whos departure from my life was the absolute
worst stupid thing I ever did....not following her home in '79 from
Tehran. If anything New Zealand comes on the screen, I fell awful for
hours over "what could have been".

Even if it's just a kiwi fruit?
But I know what you mean.

--Vic

Was having a discussion with cruising friends when the subject of a dock
neighbor came up. Seems he's likely to need someone to return his boat
from Maine back to Conn. in Long Island Sound. We were curios as to what
licensed captains would normally charge to do that trip.

Red

Just realized I hit the reply button instead of compose to post my question.

Red wrote in :

Was having a discussion with cruising friends when the subject of a
dock
neighbor came up. Seems he's likely to need someone to return his boat
from Maine back to Conn. in Long Island Sound. We were curios as to
what
licensed captains would normally charge to do that trip.

Red



Why do you need a licensed captain? Grab some of the sailors off your
dock, load up the boat and GO! Some of my best Florida vacations were
delivering someone's yacht back to Charleston with a bunch of guys from
the docks.

It's nice if the guy whos boat you're delivering provides the food, fuel
and beer...(c; We pretty much clean out their liqour cabinets of dusty
old Scotch before landfall...

Tell him to fill up the gas bottles on the grill, too!

Larry
--
http://www.spp.gov/
The end of the USA and its Constitution....RIP